


Roots that run deep

by ineptshieldmaid



Category: Star Trek XI
Genre: Academia, Character of Color, Cultural Differences, F/M, alien character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-03-28
Updated: 2010-03-28
Packaged: 2017-10-13 13:36:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/137960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ineptshieldmaid/pseuds/ineptshieldmaid
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It is a frequent, and mistaken, assumption amongst many Federation races that Vulcans do not love their spouses. There are many factors which contribute to such an error, starting with the fact that many humans find it hard to imagine a Vulcan loving anyone.</p><p>Nyota Uhura, of course, knows better.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Roots that run deep

It is a frequent, and mistaken, assumption amongst many Federation races that Vulcans do not love their spouses. There are many factors which contribute to such an error, starting with the fact that many humans find it hard to imagine a Vulcan loving anyone.

Nyota Uhura, of course, knows better. She has studied the ancient love poetry of Vulcan; she knows how deeply emotions run within Vulcan culture. One of the earliest assignments which Earth-based students of Vulcan culture are set involves the historiography of Vulcan marriage. It goes something like this: at first, human diplomats think that Vulcans have no emotion; then, human xenocultural scholars learn more about Vulcan history and pre-Surak culture, and conclude that passionate marriage is unknown to contemporary Vulcans, who consider it dangerous or even abhorrent. Finally, in recent years more Vulcan philosophers have begun to interact with human culture, and human scholars (somewhat late to the party, as usual) have read more widely in studies of Vulcan society which have been conducted by other races (particularly their close cousins, the Romulans; strangely, Orion scholarship proved insightful, though difficult to access). The marriage of Amanda Grayson opened up new avenues of communication between earth-based xenocultural specialists and previously closed aspects of Vulcan society, and thus the current scholarly consensus - much simplified for undergraduates - is reached: Vulcan love is not practiced in the same way as human love, but that does not mean it is non-existent.

Uhura knows about the bonds which underpin Vulcan marriage. She knows that two people, bonded from childhood, grow together like ornamental trees: all the stronger for the artifice in their joining.

She also knows that that is not what she shares with Spock. She has no telepathic aptitude, and although Spock has told her that he feels some empathic resonance from her when in close contact, it goes without saying that he seeks nothing more. It might be possible to forge some sort of bond, one which would give him a spouse's awareness of her from across the room, from the other side of the ship, perhaps even from orbit. It would be indissoluble, and it would be imperfect, would never allow them the tranquil ebb and flow of mutual regard which characterises a true marriage among Vulcans.

When a Vulcan wife enters the room where her husband is with company, it is considered uncouth to greet him before the others present.

The customs of Vulcan society include elaborate rituals of meeting and greeting; stylised enquiries into the happiness well-being of one's fellows and family. But never one's spouse.

When a young bonded pair are struck with infatuation; when their eyes linger on one another; when they are seen to touch one another frequently: then it is feared that their bond is unstable, for roots that run sufficiently deep cannot be seen above the ground.

A husband may offer his wife comfort with the touch of his hand only in times of deep distress.

To state that which is self-evident may be beautiful; to ask it, redundant. All Vulcan dialects have several specifically spousal ways to say "I love you"; none have an equivalent way to ask "do you love me?"

After two years as teacher and pupil, and now with the formal command structure of the Enterprise between them, restraint comes as easily to Uhura as to Spock. When she comes onto the bridge, she calls out to Jim; favours Chekov with a smile; questions Sulu about the results of last night's fencing competition; and greets Spock with a tilt of her head and a crinkle in the corner of her eyes. When Spock clocks off his shift, he exchanges a few words with the Captain; makes plans to meditate with Sulu after dinner; and merely catches Nyota's eye as he steps into the turbolift. Between times there was nothing between them; nothing but what had always been between them, in class as in social environments: nothing but knowledge, inference and trust.

Even more than Vulcan spouses do, they mark themselves out by what lies unsaid, and defy the illogic of display.


End file.
